Gone
by Baritone
Summary: When Twilight Sparkle awakens, she is met with silence. The playground is empty, the trees retain their fruit and Ponyville is quiet. Guided by her wits and the assistance of a mysterious force, Twilight must discover the fate of those who once were. In a forgotten time, she will piece together the uncanny mystery of those souls lost in the light, or forever be alone.
1. Awake

"I am Princess Celestia, co-leader of Equestria. If you seek answers, I cannot explain the disturbing events of late. I don't know if anyone will ever hear this but...it's over. I'm sorry. I am the only left."

A warm breeze swayed the trees surrounding Ponyville. The sun glowed and cast long shadows across the writhing grass on the meadow floor. Amongst the sea of swirling green, a pony slept peacefully. Her chest rose and fell gently, rhythmically, hypnotically. Her breathing was synchronized with the calm movements of the trees and the clouds hung in the sky like cotton candy. The little pony stirred, her purple form rolled onto its side. Silence.

Twilight awoke, her ears twitching sporadically. Her breathing picked up and her lavender eyes unveiled themselves.

The scent of flowers immediately demanded her attention. Daisies and dandelions drew her from her reverie as she shook away her sleepy daze. She took note of the morning sun, it must have been early...but why was she out here?

It didn't take her long to place where she was. Twilight was on the outskirts of Ponyville, her home. She saw the town not too far away, if only she could remember how she came to be in the meadow in the first place. Her query forgotten, Twilight began towards the sleepy town, her hooves brushed against the vegetation as she went. She searched for an answer as to why she had slept outside but none came to her.

"What a strange morning…" she said to no-one in particular. Her stomach wailed in a cry for attention.

First order of business is breakfast. She thought to herself.

Twilight decided she would visit the market on her way back to the library. Applejack would surely be glad see her, it wasn't very often that she had to fix her own breakfast. Maybe she took advantage of Spike a little too often...her mind wandered as the serenity elicited her to reflect.

Smiling to herself, Twilight listened for birdsong. Much to her surprise, she heard none. At this point in the day, the birds should be very much awake. Perhaps it was earlier than she had initially thought.

Now that she thought about it, Ponyville seemed a little too quiet on the whole as she approached. The residents of Ponyville weren't idle foals when it came to the morning. They were hard working, early rising folk. As Ponyville crept towards her, Twilight didn't hear the typical hustle and bustle of market day, she didn't hear anything.

Her ears twisted all directions, yet she detected nothing. Perhaps there was some kind of holiday on? It wouldn't be out of character for Mayor Mare to just declare a holiday and give everyone a 'day off.' It was a Monday after all.

Ponyville crept a little closer, still no signs of life. Twilight was now less than twenty metres away. Twenty more hoofsteps and she would be back in the town she knew and loved. She couldn't help the feeling of unease as she entered Ponyville.

The windows of buildings stared at Twilight like eyes, she was convinced she'd caught them looking. As well as this, she couldn't shake the unsettling feeling growing in her gut. Moving through the familiar labyrinth, she pressed on.

Twilight gingerly trotted through Ponyville towards to the marketplace where she intended to meet Applejack. The friendly farm pony could surely lift her spirits, if not, she could get something to eat. Her stomach wailed again as a reminder of her hunger. Applejack's stall was seeming more appealing by the second.

Twilight eventually came to the large market square in the centre of town. Her eyes scanned the area for ponies, she saw none, all Twilight could see was their unattended stands. This was certainly odd. Usually Ponyville was alive with bustle, but everyone had simply vanished. Twilight knew where Applejack would usually set up her apple stand, she went around the abandoned stalls, making a beeline for her friend's stand. When she arrived at Applejack's usual location, she was stunned. Applejack was also missing.

Applejack never missed market day. As a diligent pony, Applejack would surely not allow herself to miss it. By this logic, her absence couldn't be sheer coincidence. Of course, that wasn't even the beginning of it. No other ponies were present, every stall Twilight laid eyes on was vacant. Twilight recognised Carrot Top's stall by the carrots strewn across the floor, it was certainly unlike Carrot Top to just abandon her stall. It looked like she had literally dropped everything and left, it made no sense. It was like Ponyville had turned into a ghost town overnight.

The purple unicorn paused momentarily and scrunched her nose, straining her brain for information. This was certainly weird...even by Ponyville standards. The empty stalls, empty streets. Everything seemed empty.

"Why can't I remember yesterday?" Twilight mused.

Twilight left the marketplace in her wake as she headed towards the Golden Oaks library. The eerie feeling that hung over the town remained but she knew there was a reasonable explanation to all of this, she just had to find it. Maybe Spike could shed some light on the situation? Hopefully the young dragon wasn't too shocked by everything that had happened.

The trot to the library didn't take too long, the sound of Twilight's hooves hitting the path filled the silence. Her eyes scanned the structures around her expectantly. Unfortunately, she was completely oblivious to the obstruction in front of her. Her right hoof clipped the boxes in her path, Twilight tripped suddenly, her hooves scrabbled for grip and she fell. Twilight winced as the din rang in her ears overpowering the deafening silence. That racket would surely attract attention... again, Twilight looked around at the homes of her friends. She expected to see a friendly face come galloping out to inquire about the noise. When no one came, Twilight decided to investigate.

To her right, Twilight noticed a door moving in the breeze. She made her way over and pushed it open stepping her front hooves through the gap. Twilight peeked through and spoke.

"Hello?" Twilight called out. "Is anyone there?" No reply.

Twilight walked inside the home closing the door behind her, consciously making as little noise as possible. Walked into the hallway area, she noticed how messy everything was. Leaves had blown into the hall and were collecting at the bottom of the staircase, Twilight wondered how long the door had been open like that if leaves had collected so much.

The kitchen was visible on her left so that's where Twilight went first. A few plates and dishes were sat dry in the sink, a cereal box was left out on the sideboard and the morning paper was left alone at the table. Twilight picked the paper up in her magic to check the date of the paper but instead made an unsettling discovery, the paper had been partially doused in blood.

Twilight stared at the stained red paper for a few seconds, it was unmistakable. Why on Equestria was there so much blood here? Twilight shivered, she didn't want to know the answer to her question. Instead, she refocused her gaze on the headline of the paper.

"ABDUCTION IN CANTERLOT?"

"That certainly doesn't sound good," she said to herself.

Intrigued, Twilight looked over the rest of the article.

...many fear abduction to be the cause of the recent disappearances in Canterlot.

...Captain of the Guard, Shining Armour, gave a statement as the missing pony count rose to sixty.

"The guard is aware of the situation and we are pushing to find the missing ponies and those responsible. The law will be upheld."

"Good luck, big brother," Twilight said.

Upon closer inspection, the date of paper showed a week had gone by. If that were true, Twilight was missing a large gap of time from her memory.

Twilight remained still for a few seconds, lost in thought. She wasn't sure how to handle this information. In another attempt to find the home-owners, Twilight called out for a response. She surely would have woken someone that time. When Ponyville remained quiet once again, Twilight decided to leave the house. If she were honest with herself, she may have admitted being too scared to go and look upstairs. Being the level-headed pony she was, she suppressed this and made her objective getting back to the library. Twilight galloped away from the house not stopping to look back. She needed to see Spike.

A short amount of galloping later, Twilight was outside her front door. The comforting branches of her tree home ushered her in, Twilight swung open the door with probably a little too much force, stepped in, then slammed the door closed.

"Spike?!" She called out.

No reply, Twilight started up the stairs to their room.

He must still be sleeping.

She arrived at the bedroom, emotions running wild within her. Twilight grasped the door, her magical aura enveloping the handle. She willed it forwards despite the anxiety to be utterly shocked.

Spike was gone.

Twilight was in a state of panic. She uprooted furniture, she flung pillows, she tore through her home desperately trying to find the young drake...but she couldn't.

The naive lavender pony had tried to write it off in the marketplace, but now, after visiting the house and seeing...this... she was left staring into the face of reality, she had to acknowledge that something was indeed wrong.

Twilight wanted to cry, she was an emotional train wreck. She couldn't think of anything that might make her forget how utterly defeated she felt. She wanted Spike back, she needed her friends, wherever they were.

That's when she saw it. In her time of darkness, she saw the light.

Twilight couldn't explain what she was seeing. Before her, a phenomenon of light danced.

It wasn't light from the sun, that much was obvious. It was a swirling golden orb that radiated a light of its own. As well as this, It was three-dimensional. Twilight wasn't sure whether she could call it light. It broke all rules of physics and magic that she had been taught in Princess Celestia's academy.

Twilight's analytical mind went to work. It had to be a form of magic. No regular light source was capable of creating this. Twilight determined that a magical scan was necessary. If she used her magic in such a way, she could determine an origin. In theory, if Twilight could do that, then she could discover who cast this spell and why it had manifested itself in her home.

Twilight lit up her horn and attempted a magical scan of the light. As she prepared herself for the spell, the light flew away. As if on a whim, it had floated away leaving a trail of light in its wake.

Perplexed, but not discouraged, Twilight followed the mysterious orb.

Down the stairs it went, Twilight in pursuit. The orb paused at the bottom of the stairs and phased through the front door unimpeded.

Twilight's unnerving experience outside had her feeling skittish but her interest was piqued. The bookish pony was defenseless against the allure of mystery. Twilight found herself compelled to follow.

After following the trail of light the orb was emitting, Twilight eventually found orb had gone as far as it wished to go and remained stationary in the centre of Ponyville's playground.

There was no indication of why the orb had stopped. What Twilight found more disturbing was the amount of magic the orb possessed. She hadn't noticed it initially, but after being in its presence for a longer period of time, she noticed that the orb possessed a great amount of inert magic.

"Why did you bring me here?" She said, as if she were expecting a response.

Twilight gazed at the orb and raised a hoof to touch it. Leaning closer, the orb came to life.

It glowed brightly as she edged closer, the light seemed more and more blinding, Twilight couldn't see her hoof in the dazzling glare. She pulled away, unsure of the consequences that would follow if she activated the inert magic within the orb.

Twilight took a moment to think, the orb hadn't tried to attack her and it hadn't acted aggressively. The magic imprisoned within it seemed strong, but it was completely inactive. Surely if it were to attack her, she would be able to defend herself anyway. She was Princess Celestia's personal student after all. Did it really pose a threat?

In Twilight's eyes, not knowing the origin of the orb was a good enough reason to cause concern. Until she knew what it was, she would have no business with it.

What if the orb was in some way linked to what she had experienced? It did seem convenient that the strange orb just appeared at the same time as the mysterious silence. What if there was a connection?

"What am I supposed to do?" Twilight asked.

The orb stared back at her impassively, its golden glowing arms orbiting its rounded face tantalisingly.

Twilight decided she simply couldn't let the orb disappear. If that happened and the orb was in some way connected to her current situation, she would be responsible for allowing this anomaly to slip away! What would Princess Celestia think?

On that note, Twilight acted.

Her horn glowed a lavender tinge, Twilight felt her magic flowing within, she was ready. She cast her magic onto the orb, she felt out the dome structure she wished to form and lowered it until it completely encased the orb. It struggled at first but she felt it succumbing to her entrapment spell. The glow weakened and weakened until it was nothing but a twinkle. Twilight released her spell, the magic nullifying properties taking full affect and trapping the orb.

Twilight released the air she had been holding in her lungs, she felt far safer knowing that the orb was contained. She was still uncomfortable, but she had a lead she could study -the orb-.

Happy that the orb was contained, Twilight turned to leave but didn't get far before a cracking sound begged her immediate attention. Alerted by the sudden noise, she turned and inspected the orb's prison. Incredibly, it had expanded to a giant size. It was so large that Twilight's prison spell was now being put to test. The magic bubble groaned showing visual signs of stress, when the magical field was stretched to its absolute limit, it then began to disappear. The orb was taking in the magic from Twilight's prison like nourishment, absorbing it as a sponge would. Needless to say, Twilight couldn't believe her eyes.

The orb kept on expanding, Twilight's prison was the key to releasing the orb's powerful inert magic. Twilight attempted to cast another spell but it was too late, the orb began siphoning magic directly from the source. The purple pony felt the affects instantly as her knees weakened and she collapsed. The orb continued to drink away her magic reserves, Twilight was struggling to keep her eyes open. She thought she had passed out when the world went dark.

If only.


	2. Alone

The sunset on Ponyville felt cold as the sun dipped beneath the distant horizon.

The only evidence of that light still existed was the golden tendrils that hung in the air, gyrating slowly. The web of lights weaved in amongst each other gracefully, without a care.

Beneath them, Twilight's body stirred.  
Her eyes fluttered open. She was dazed and could hardly move. The gravity fought against her for power of her limbs, yet the purple pony was able to win the small battle. Shakily, she made it to her hooves. 

As she became more aware, she couldn't see anything but the unnatural web of light before her. Everything else was pitch black, completely bathed in darkness. Gazing into the spiderweb of light, she couldn't help but appreciate its beauty. The light reached out to her with its frail arms, expectantly. Twilight denied it this time, her previous encounter with the light fresh in her mind. 

She couldn't understand what was going on, and that terrified her. She was seemingly alone, with not a pony in Ponyville.

Nightmare Moon brought her close to her friends, Discord was reformed and Tirek, even after absorbing all of the magic in Equestria, was defeated. 

This, this felt like an aftermath. 

The warm sun was a reminder that Celestia could always see her and it had been removed from the sky almost instantaneously. Looking into the night, she could tell that even Luna's stars were different. They appeared in random places, unorganised.

Luna's night typically shone with beauty, yet this just seemed dull in comparison. 

Twilight was downtrodden, she would have closed her eyes and bawled if it weren't for a small sound.  
Quietly, it echoed. Twilight strained her ears to catch the small sound until it grew into something she recognised. Tears. Twilight heard the tears of a young, exhausted drake. A bulb lit inside her head, Twilight knew what it was... 

"Spike?" A southern accent drawled.

"What are ya doin' out here on your own?" 

Twilight looked up, that voice was familiar too. 

"Nothing, Applejack. Just sitting." 

"Sit...bench..." Twilight thought cast her eyes into the darkened park. Her eyes wandered to the park bench's frame. She expected to see Spike but instead the light had manifested itself into a golden wireframe shape on the seat, it beared an uncanny resemblance to Spike's small body.

Another form came into Twilight's field of vision, this one was pony-like. 

"Spike, if you need to talk to me, I'm here for you. You know that, right?" 

"Mmhmm…" 

At the figure's hooves, the light glowed gently as if it had weight and was pressing into the ground. Twilight's eyes keenly observed the glowing figure as it moved over to the small one on the bench. She anxiously waited until the pony figure spoke again. 

"Darn it Spike, you can't bottle yerself up, I miss her too y'know." 

"I know Applejack, I know. I just can't believe that she's, that she's…" 

"Spike, stop." The voice was soft but Twilight recognised her friend's authority all the same. 

"I know this has been pretty rough on you and it's been hard for me too, but we can't just throw in the towel and give up hope. We'll see her again soon, I promise. After all, she wouldn't just up 'n leave without saying goodbye to us. I know it, Spike. She wouldn't." 

"That's why I'm scared Applejack, she didn't tell me anything...she's just gone." 

The two figures sat mulling over their thoughts. It wasn't long before a kind voice spoke up once more. 

"I'll take you back to the library if ya like, we're both pretty tired. I think we'll both feel a whole lot better after some sleep." 

"I'm not a kid, Applejack." 

"You don't have to be a kid to need a rest, Spike." 

"Okay, just give me a second. I'll be right behind you." 

"Sure Spike, take your time." 

With that, the pony form trotted away leaving the one small figure alone on the bench. Twilight's eyes were transfixed on the lone figure as it stood up and slowly walked away. 

The strands of light disappeared leaving Twilight in complete darkness. She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Those were her friends.

Twilight noticed a light coming from the hillside, as she looked, the sun rose above the hill and perched itself in the same spot it had occupied before. Despite its warm glow, it did little to shine light on Twilight's mystery. 

Twilight struggled to comprehend what had just happened.

By the evidence put before her, she determined that the light was the by-product of incredibly powerful magic. What she had witnessed left her scared and confused. 

The light had shown her images of her missing friends, did that explain their absence? Did the light have something to do with the strange disappearances? It had to. 

Shaking, Twilight got to her hooves. Thoughts were buzzing inside her head and she needed to know the truth. Her will pushing her forwards, she galloped back through the town to her wooden home. 

The streets were still very much quiet. After her experience, she had a justified reason to be suspicious of the silence. With the houses rushing past her, she almost didn't notice her lack of breath. 

Twilight arrived back at the library feeling like she'd run a marathon. Unfortunately, she had science on the brain and a bath wasn't going to keep her from her work. 

Twilight fished a few sheets of paper and a quill from her desk using her magic, if the situation had the potential to be dire, Princess Celestia would need to know about it. The problem was that she didn't know where Spike was. She would have to send the letter herself. 

Calmly, Twilight selected a book from her shelf on long range teleportation. With her current power, she would be unable to send herself as her magic wasn't strong enough. She would be able to send a letter with a bit of effort, Canterlot wasn't on her doorstep anymore. 

After skimming the book, Twilight scrawled the necessary words onto the paper and folded up the message into a scroll. The spell needed some level of focus, so she closed her eyes and  
envisioned Celestia's throne room.  
White pillars, stained glass, a golden throne, Twilight pictured the immense room in her mind. She could even imagine the sun princess sitting stoically conducting her day court.  
With a poof, the message disappeared and Twilight smiled at her small victory.

It wasn't the answer to her mystery, but at least she had started the ball rolling. The Princess would know what to do, she always did. 

Scanning her upturned room, she decided the next order of business was to devise a plan. Twilight's message surely wouldn't get an instant reply, so perhaps some level of investigation would be required to truly work out what she was up against. 

Levitating a few helpful objects together, Twilight packed a small saddlebag to help her with her investigation.

First, she packed some quills, then her favourite pristine white paper, an assortment of inks, some sandwiches she whisked up without a second thought and a spellbook. With these helpful items at her disposal, she would surely be set for her investigation. 

Twilight stood by the window gazing outwards. The town almost looked peaceful from her position but she knew otherwise. 

It didn't take her long to notice something else abnormal about the town. 

Once again, Twilight could see a little ball of light meandering its way through the town. 

What should she do? If she didn't follow it, she wouldn't risk another possibly dangerous encounter with those balls of light. She'd be fine and she could carry on her day working out a plan.

What if she did go? Surely this little ball of light had something to do with all of this. If she were lucky, she might even get some answers. 

Weighing it up in her head, there was no clear best option. Both decisions had their pros, both had their cons. Unfortunately, she had little time to waste. 

More likely out of desperation, rather than out of logic, Twilight made up her mind. She picked up her saddlebags and with her ears perked and her resolve steely, Twilight dashed downstairs. She couldn't risk losing that little shimmering ball of light. Despite her uncertainty, she knew it was most likely her best shot at finding answers. She was going to follow that light, even if it wasn't the safest option.  
Out the door she went, into the unknown. This would surely be her making. 

Twilight had searched for the better part of an hour, yet she had somehow lost the light shortly after leaving her home. 

She wasn't sure how she'd done it, but she knew that she wasn't happy with herself. 

No! She couldn't give up hope! That was against her nature. She would not be defeated yet, especially when there was so much at stake. 

Twilight would just put her nose to the grindstone like she always did. She simply wouldn't be beaten just yet.  
After looping around Ponyville, Twilight had ended up on the outskirts of Applejack's farm. Disturbingly, she still hadn't seen anypony. 

Fortunately for her, the light wasn't far away. She caught a glimpse of it winding between the trees in the distance and Twilight took this as great encouragement to press on. 

Up the dusty path she went, following the white fence she had become quite familiar with after many visits to the farm. 

Nothing seemed wrong until she came face to face with light. 

It hovered before her, just begging her to interact with it. Twilight immediately pulled out her quill and did a sketch of the anomaly. She studied the way its arms drifted through the air as well as its body. They were quite a sight to behold. 

Twilight also studied its magical potential once more. She needed to know if it were different to the orb she had previously encountered.  
Twilight's fears were confirmed. This orb was identical to the one she'd found previously. It had huge reserves of inert magic, just waiting to be triggered.

For all intents and purposes, it was identical to the first anomaly. 

In truth, she wasn't too eager to experience its magic after her last encounter had gone pear-shaped. Twilight winced at the thought of the pain. 

She had a couple of options. Now that she had successfully tracked down the orb, she could make her observations and leave. She wouldn't consider the trip a loss, she had studied the orb somewhat and perhaps what she had seen would be helpful to her studying.  
With her new information to hoof, she might even get some concrete facts about these orbs! She wasn't being cowardly at all! Was she?

Even though she experienced a great deal of pain whilst interacting with the last orb, it gave her something valuable. She got to see her friends. There was a large gap in her memory and the orb seemed to play out a scene that may have taken place during her memory's absence. 

She heard Spike's voice and Applejack's! She was sure of it! It's like the orbs had taken snapshots of her friends lives and they were being played back to her. 

Perhaps interacting with the orbs truly was the only way that she would get answers. 

It was a difficult pill to swallow but perhaps the situation did indeed call for desperate measures. The answers were lying within the light, all Twilight had to do was find them. 

Twilight knew there was no more time to waste. Even if she was scared and confused, she accepted that this was possibly the only way of truly knowing what was going on. 

Bracing herself Twilight charged up the smallest amount of magic she could muster and caressed the light. 

Instantaneously, the light responded to her. It grew in size but she didn't feel the same pain as before. Eventually the light stopped growing and Twilight had to pour more of her magic into the swelling ball. 

Despite her fear, the thought of her friends powered Twilight onwards. No matter what, she'd help them. 

More and more she charged her horn, sparks flying off in different directions. Her head strained and she had to concentrate to maintain the flow of energy she was feeding the beast before her. 

Twilight's efforts were rewarded. Eventually, the light grew until she couldn't see anything but pure white and then it faded to pitch black.  
When she opened her eyes, a wireframe pony figure of golden light sat on the path before her. It didn't speak but it had Twilight's attention.  
The way it was sprawled across the path implied it was in pain. It clutched at its head and Twilight thought she saw droplets of liquid light leaking from the figure's nose. 

Then, it spoke. 

"W-what are you? I know you can h-hear me," the pony figure stuttered.  
Twilight recognised the deep voice as Big MacIntosh. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain. 

A humming filled Twilight's ears as she watched the scene unfold, almost as if the light was replying. 

"I k-know you're in my head. I can feel you." 

The pony figure on the ground clutched at its face seemingly to no avail, another droplet of light splashed onto the ground beneath the figure. 

"Ah suppose you've won now, got Granny 'n Bloom, Applejack's missing, now it's just me... and you still haven't had enough." 

The hum returned, far more audibly this time. 

"Do your worst then, ah think this apple's baked anyway." 

Twilight felt tears sting her eyes. Just watching the figure roll in pain was enough to upset her. But this was Big Mac, he was good friend. And it seemed like he was dying. 

"Ah've had enough of your games," the figure of Mac spoke. 

"Ah'm going home." 

Mac heaved himself to his hooves with the utmost effort his weak body could manage and she watched him trudge slowly towards the farmhouse as his figure slowly faded. 

Blackness fell upon the land, it blanketed everything, Twilight feared it might stay that way until she witnessed the sun slowly climbing back into the sky. 

She stood on the dust path with tears staining her cheeks. Had she just watched the final moments of a friend?  
She was powerless to do anything and he just faded away into thin air. 

Upon closer inspection of the path, Twilight noticed two small stains in the dirt. They were small, red stains. Too small for to notice if she wasn't paying attention, but they were there. 

Twilight remembered the droplets she'd witnessed coming from Mac's face in the light vision. 

There wasn't a moment to lose.

Twilight raced up the path towards the farmhouse in the hopes she wasn't too late. She needed to find Big Mac.


End file.
